Pairing one of today’s most gifted jazz guitarists (Anthony Pirog) with one of rock ‘n’ roll’s fiercest rhythm sections (Brendan Canty and Joe Lally) was always going to be a recipe for success, but on their sophomore LP Anthropocosmic Nest, Washington, D.C.’s The Messthetics are blowing past the old goals and delivering one of the most raucous and satisfying releases of the year. Wildly inventive with surprises awaiting the listener at every turn, Nest is an ecstatic proclamation of skronk-and-circumstance that says not only are The Messthetics BACK, but they’re here to stay!

It's likely that we'll look back at 2017 as the year almost everything fell apart, downerism ruled the land, and we came very close to being broken as a people.

But we didn't break. We made it. And on this final installment of ChunkyGlasses: The Podcast for 2017, we're discussing the music that lifted us up, dropped us down, and sometimes even showed us the way, but never, ever let us down.

Thanks for tuning in all year. We'll see you soon. Until then be good to your ears, but be better to your people...

English folk singer Laura Marling released her sixth album, Semper Femina, in March. With a title taken from a quote from Virgil’s Aeneid (“varium et mutabile semper femina,” which translates to “woman is ever a fickle and changing thing”), the album explores themes of femininity and female relationships, and was met with wide critical acclaim as her most mature, affecting work to date. For the last show of her US tour for the album, Marling and her band came to the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

Over the course of 6 albums Laura Marling has proved that she's a force to be reckoned with. On her latest effort, Semper Femina, set out to explore her relationship to feminism, femininity and relationships in a modern age, and the result is a flat-out masterpiece. Join us as we gush over this unexpected triumph of feelzcore.

PLUS! Swedish prog/jazz rockers brought their latest album Haxan to US shores recently and blew a lot of minds in the process. Buy the ticket and take the ride with a track from their latest atmospheric masterpiece.

If it surprises you to hear that British folk music can sell out the 9:30 Club, you probably weren’t there on Friday night. That night the room was transformed into an English folk club – or at least as close as the design of the venue would allow – as three singers took to the stage to perform for a packed crowd of fans.

Opening the show was Marika Hackman, playing songs from her debut album, We Slept at Last. She was followed by actor-turned-musician Johnny Flynn, performing a solo set of songs from his three albums. Though he has recently appeared to be concentrating more on his acting (since releasing his most recent album Country Mile in 2013, he has appeared in the British sitcom Scrotal Recall and the movie Song One, amongst other roles), he played one new, as-of-yet untitled song mid-set. To round out his set, he was joined by Laura Marling for their duet on his song “The Water” (easily one of the highlights of the night), and then the pair were joined by Hackman and by Marling’s band to perform a raucous sing-along of “Tickle Me Pink” from Flynn’s debut album A Larum.

Ahhhh list season. The time of year where critics flaunt their supreme knowledge of the musical year gone by, music fans find out what they may or may not have missed, and fights – with CHAINSAWS – erupt spontaneously over who was the MOST SUPREMELY INDIE ROCK (Indie Squared? Indie So Hard?) in dorm rooms, parties and basements across the land. So that last one might not be true…but the list, and it’s ever expanding scope (100 Top Artists of the Year Who Have Worn Socks At Some Point In Their Life!) has become an important year end ritual, one that we, like every single other music site on the internets are not immune to.

Kicking things off today are the favorites of a few of our, ahem, less verbose contributors who chose to simply let their choices speak for themselves. Regardless, it’s an impressive stylistic spread that Suzie, Roddy and Aubrey have come up with, and we can pretty much guarantee that somewhere in there is something you’re gonna love, assuming you don’t already). Stay tuned all week long to see what else has been ruling our earholes in 2013. Now, let’s make with the lists.

Pretty awesome, right? Luckily for you, we have a pair of tickets to give away to the first show at Lincoln Theatre under I.M.P.'s management! For your chance to see British folk songstress Laura Marling on Wednesday, September 4th, please do one of the following:

1. Leave a comment below telling us your favorite Laura Marling album and why. Please be sure to use a valid email address and the name under which you'd like tickets to be held should you win.

A few songs into her set, singer/songwriter Laura Marling paused to her inform the crowd that her stage banter hadn’t gotten any better since the last time she performed here in DC. She wasn’t entirely off the mark with that comment, and while there was a successful and hilarious “show and tell” near the end of the show, banter wasn’t really what people came for Tuesday. They came to hear Marling use her voice to “summon the angels”, as ex-bandmate/ex-boyfriend Charlie Fink of Noah and the Whale fame, once suggested she was capable of. And that’s pretty squarely what she delivered.

If seeing 21 year-old Brad Oberhofer last week didn’t satiate your need to see talented young musicians ply their trade, then you’re in luck! Fresh off of her performance at Bonnaroo this weekend, 22 year-old Laura Marling takes the stage at the 9:30 Club this evening in support of her third (and finest) album, A Creature I Don’t Know. With a little bit PJ Harvey, a whole lot Joni Mitchell, and some Leonard Cohen thrown in for good measure, it’s difficult to say exactly what you’ll be seeing on V Street tonight, but rest assured this is one “kid” who can deliver.

No matter what persona she wears, Marling is a hell of a guitar player, a fine singer, and has an easy-going stage presence, all of which ensure a great evening of music tonight in DC. So check out the video below, then get your self a ticket (they're still available) and we'll see you at the 9:30 Club tonight!